Kowloon

Start: Star Ferry Terminus, Tsim Sha Tsui.

Finish: Temple Street Night Market.

Time: About 4 hours.

Best Times: Early afternoon, when the Jade Market is still open; or late in the day, when you can visit the Temple Street Night Market.

Worst Time: Thursday, when the Hong Kong Museum of Art is closed.

A stroll up Nathan Road through Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei will take you through the heart of Kowloon, past its famous hotels, restaurants, and shops and on to the fascinating Chinese shops and markets in Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok. Because the Jade Market closes around 3pm and the nearby Temple Street Night Market is best visited after 7pm, you'll have to decide which is most important to you and plan your time accordingly. If you only choose one, I'd opt for the Temple Street Night Market. On the other hand, because the MTR is so efficient, you can always take in both by returning to the night market in the evening. Or, if you'd rather not visit Temple Street at night, a few vendors set up shop from about 4pm. Alternatively, because this walk is such a long one, you might wish to either break it up into a 2-day stroll or cover only part of it, concentrating on those sights that interest you the most. Whichever you choose, a logical tour of Tsim Sha Tsui begins with the Star Ferry since, for more than a century, it served as the only link with Hong Kong Island.

Within the Star Ferry terminus itself is a Hong Kong Tourist Board office, where you can pick up free pamphlets, brochures, and maps of Hong Kong. In front of the Star Ferry concourse is Kowloon's main bus terminal; straight ahead, on the side of the bus terminal, is a large, nondescript building, Star House, which contains mostly offices but also restaurants and shops. Of most interest to visitors is:

1. Chinese Arts & Crafts--Located on the ground floor of Star House, 3 Salisbury Rd. (tel. 852/2735 4061), this store is open daily from 10am to 9:30pm, and is the most upscale store specializing in Chinese products, including embroidered tablecloths, jewelry, ceramics, arts and crafts, and clothing. It's also one of the safest places to buy jade.

Behind Star House is Ocean Terminal, the port of call for cruise liners docking in Hong Kong. It's probably no accident that it is immediately adjacent to:

2. Harbour City--This is Hong Kong's largest interconnected shopping mall and one of the largest shopping complexes in the world. Stretching more than a .8km (1/2 mile) along Canton Road, it contains more than 700 shops. Enter it and you might not escape during this lifetime; better save shopping for another day. Instead, look just east of the Star Ferry and bus terminals for the colonial-looking:

3. Clock tower--Built in 1915, and now dwarfed by the buildings around it, this is the only structure remaining from Hong Kong's old train station, once the final stop for those traveling overland from London on the Orient Express. In 1975, the Kowloon-Canton Railway moved to its present location in Hung Hom. Occupying the train station's former site is the modern:

4. Hong Kong Cultural Centre--Opened in 1989 as the city's largest arena for the performing arts, this structure, in my opinion, is terribly misplaced. After all, why situate concert and theater halls that have no windows on waterfront property with one of the world's most stunning views? Still, the Cultural Centre does offer first-rate concerts of both Western and Chinese music.

Walking between the clock tower and Victoria Harbour, you'll find yourself on the:

5. Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade--Hugging the shoreline all the way from the Star Ferry to Hung Hom, the promenade offers a great vantage point of the harbor with its boat traffic, Hong Kong Island, and the Peak. It's also a good place for a romantic stroll at night, when the dazzling lights of Hong Kong Island are ablaze across the harbor.

In just a couple of minutes' stroll along the promenade, you'll soon reach one of my favorite museums in Hong Kong, the:

6. Hong Kong Museum of Art--Located at 10 Salisbury Rd. (tel. 852/2734 2167), this museum contains an excellent collection of Chinese porcelain, bronzes, jade, lacquerware, bamboo carvings, and paintings of old Hong Kong and Macau, as well as works by contemporary Hong Kong artists. It even has windows! Don't miss it. It's open Friday to Wednesday from 10am to 6pm.

Beside the art museum, to the north is the:

7. Hong Kong Space Museum--Easy to spot because of its white-domed planetarium, the museum (10 Salisbury Rd.; tel. 852/2734 2722) is divided into two parts--the Space Theatre's planetarium, where films are projected onto the 75-foot domed roof, and exhibition halls devoted to space and space exploration. There are many hands-on exhibitions, as well as some simulator rides, making it a good place for children. The Space Museum (also without windows) has stolen the view from Tsim Sha Tsui's most famous landmark, the venerable:

8. Peninsula Hotel--Right across the street from the Space Museum, this hotel was built in 1928 to serve guests disembarking at the old train station. Guarded by the largest all-Rolls-Royce fleet in the world (13, at last count), The Peninsula is Hong Kong's grandest old hotel, with a new tower that restored harbor views to its front-facing rooms. Its lobby, reminiscent of a Parisian palace, with high gilded ceilings, pillars, and ferns, has long been a favorite spot for a cup of coffee and people-watching.

Take A Break--Many visitors feel that their Hong Kong stay would not be complete without dropping by the lobby of The Peninsula hotel (tel. 852/2920 2888). Classical music serenades you throughout the afternoon and evening, but the best time to stop by is between 2 and 7:30pm daily, when an English-style afternoon tea is served for HK$165 to HK$220 (US$21 to US$29).

If you're on a budget, two nearby standouts include The Pizzeria, located behind The Peninsula in the Kowloon Hotel, 19-21 Nathan Rd. (tel. 852/2369 8698), which offers an inexpensive buffet lunch; and The Salisbury, located on the fourth floor of the Salisbury YMCA, beside The Peninsula at 41 Salisbury Rd. (tel. 852/2369 2211), which has one of the cheapest buffets around. For dim sum with a view, head to Serenade Chinese Restaurant, located on the first floor of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre (tel. 852/2722 0932), which serves dim sum from trolleys daily until 3:30pm.

Just past The Peninsula hotel, turn left on:

9. Nathan Road--This is Kowloon's most famous street. It is also one of Hong Kong's widest, and runs almost 4km (2 1/2 miles) straight up the spine of Kowloon all the way to Boundary Road, the official border of the New Territories. Nathan Road is named after Sir Matthew Nathan, who served as governor at the time the road was constructed. After it was completed, it was nicknamed "Nathan's Folly." After all, why build such a wide road, seemingly leading to nowhere? Kowloon had very few people back then and even less traffic. Now, of course, Nathan Road is known as the "golden mile of shopping" because of all the boutiques and shops that line both sides.

You'll pass jewelry stores, electronics shops, optical shops, clothing boutiques, and many others as you head north on Nathan Road. The side streets are also good hunting grounds for inexpensive casual wear, at prices comparable to those of Stanley Market. You'll want to return here to explore this area at leisure; shops are open until 9pm or later. After about 10 minutes (assuming you don't stop to shop along the way), you'll see a mosque on your left, built in 1984 to replace an older mosque built in the late 19th century for Muslim Indian troops belonging to the British army. Today, there are about 70,000 Muslims in Hong Kong; the mosque is not open to the public. Past the mosque is a string of shops called Park Lane Shopper's Boulevard, where you'll also find an outlet for Yue Hwa Chinese Products .

In the middle of the block are wide steps leading up to:

10. Kowloon Park--A good place to bring children for a romp through playgrounds and open spaces, Kowloon park also boasts a water garden, Chinese garden, sculpture garden (with Scotland's Sir Eduardo Paolozzi's bronze version of William Blake's Concept of Newton), aviary, woodland trail, maze made of foliage, and swimming pools.

If you wish, walk through the park northward, past the indoor/outdoor public swimming pools, to Austin Road, where you should turn right until you hit Nathan Road again, where you should turn left. Be on the lookout to the left for:

11. Yue Hwa Chinese Produce Emporium--On the corner of Jordan Road at 301-309 Nathan Rd. (tel. 852/2384 0084), this emporium caters primarily to the local Chinese with traditional Chinese products. Its goods from China include silk, porcelain, jade, clothing, furniture, medicinal herbs, and everyday household goods. Hours here are 10am to 10pm daily.

Once you've passed Yue Hwa, you'll find yourself in Yau Ma Tei. Its name translates roughly as "the place for growing sesame plants," but you won't see any such cultivation today. Rather, like the Western District on Hong Kong Island, Yau Ma Tei offers a look at traditional Chinese life, with shops that sell tea, chopping blocks, joss, bamboo steamers, baked goods, embroidery, herbs, and dried seafood.

Just past the Yue Hwa store, take the first left onto Nanking Street and then a right onto:

12. Woosung Street--Here you'll pass restaurants with live seafood in tanks and glazed ducks hanging from windows, an herbalist shop, and other family-owned businesses. After a few blocks, take a left on:

13. Saigon Street--Here, in succession (on the left side of the street), you'll pass a mahjong parlor, a shop for herbal teas (on the corner of Saigon and Temple sts.), and a pawnshop. You'll also pass Temple Street, site of the famous Night Market.

Take a right on:

14. Shanghai Street--Here, you'll pass more traditional shops, the most interesting of which, perhaps, is the one selling embroidery at 190 Shanghai St.

One block to the east is:

15. Reclamation Street--This street, along with the nearby Yau Ma Tei Market, is an interesting stroll if you haven't yet visited a city market.

At Kansu Street, turn left for the:

16. Jade Market--This fascinating covered market, in two separate structures, consists of some 400 stalls selling jade, pearls, and collectibles and is open from about 10am to approximately 4pm daily, though some vendors occasionally stay open until 6pm or so if business warrants it. The jade on sale here comes in a bewildering range of quality. The highest quality should be cold to the touch and translucent, but unless you know your jade, you're better off just coming here for a look. It's possible to infuse jade with color so that inferior stones acquire the brightness and translucence associated with more expensive stones. If you want a souvenir, get a pendant or bangle, but don't spend more than a few dollars on it. The freshwater pearls are also good buys. Although the Chinese here used to bargain secretly by using hand signals concealed underneath a newspaper so that none of the onlookers would know the final price, it appears that calculators have gained more popularity these days.

From the Jade Market, continue north on Shanghai Street, where you will soon see the:

17. Tin Hau Temple--Shaded by banyan trees, this is one of many temples in Hong Kong dedicated to Tin Hau, the Goddess of the Sea. This popular community temple has a park, usually filled with people playing mahjong, and inner recesses filled with people asking favors or giving thanks. The temple has sections dating back more than a century. It also reveres deities of the city, the earth, and mercy. It's open daily from 8am to 6pm.

Depending on when you started this tour, at this point, you may want to go back to your hotel room to rest and then take a taxi back to visit Yau Ma Tei's most famous attraction, the Temple Street Night Market. The market doesn't get underway until after 7pm (though a few vendors may start setting up stalls at around 4pm).

Take A Break--The Dorsett Seaview Hotel, located across from the Tin Hau Temple in the heart of Yau Ma Tei at 262 Shanghai St. (tel. 852/2782 0882), has a lounge on its 19th floor offering views of surrounding Kowloon. It's open daily from 3pm to midnight; you can get two drinks for the price of one until 8pm.

The Eaton Hotel, 380 Nathan Rd. (just south of Kansu St.; tel. 852/2782 1818), is another good place to stop by for lunch or a drink. Planter's, just off the hotel's lobby on the fourth floor (enter the hotel on Pak Hoi St.), offers a buffet lunch Monday to Saturday until 2:30pm, as well as a happy hour daily from 5 to 9pm, with two drinks for the price of one and live music beginning at 7pm. Also off the lobby is an outdoor terrace, open noon to midnight for drinks and snacks; there's also a sophisticated lobby lounge. For a meal, in the basement of the Eaton Hotel is a Cantonese restaurant, Yat Tung Heen Chinese Restaurant, good for seafood and regional dishes.

Otherwise, if it's early, you like markets, and you're still feeling energetic, walk north on Nathan Road about 10 minutes, taking a right on Dundas Street and then a left onto Tung Choi, home of the so-called:

18. Ladies' Market--This is where street vendors sell women's clothing and accessories, including handbags, sunglasses, and shoes, as well as some men's and children's clothing at low prices, from about noon to 10:30pm daily. Although most products are geared to local tastes (and their smaller sizes), you can easily spend an hour here, and maybe even pick up some bargains to boot. It's also a good alternative to the more touristy and crowded Temple Street Night Market. The Ladies' Market, in the heart of Mong Kok, extends from Dundas north to Argyle Street.

Continuing farther north on Tung Choi soon brings you to the:

19. Goldfish Market--You'll recognize it from the shop after shop selling exotic fish as well as other pets.

Head 1 block east (right), and you'll find yourself on:

20. Fa Yuen Street--This is a local market with stalls selling more clothing, handbags, socks, belts, cheap toys, and fruit, at very inexpensive prices. There probably won't be another tourist in sight here!

At the end of Fa Yuen Street, turn right to cross Prince Edward Road West at the pedestrian light, turn left onto Sai Yee Street, and then take the first right for:

21. Flower Market Road--With shop after open-fronted shop selling orchids, roses, and other wonderfully aromatic flowers, at prices so inexpensive, you'll wish you could take some home. More transportable but not nearly as appealing are the plastic flowers also sold on this street. Shops are open daily from around 7am to 6pm.

At the end of the road is the:

22. Yuen Po Street Bird Garden--This is an attractive series of Chinese-style open courtyards lined with shops selling songbirds, intricately fashioned birdcages, live crickets, and tiny porcelain water bowls. Note, too, the men who bring their pet birds here for an outing. This place is very Chinese and makes for some great photographs. It's open daily from 7am till 8pm.

After exploring this area of Mong Kok, either walk back to Nathan Road for the Prince Edward MTR station or take a break at one of the suggestions above.